The Power of Non-Verbal Communication (Part 2)

Your Expressions, Movement, Passion & Silences
Make a Difference!

This article is Part 2, continuing from Part 1 from our previous newsletter.

How do you stand before your audience when you’re speaking? Are you in conscious awareness of your body posture or stance? Much of what your current speech and presentation habits have evolved over time, mostly on an unconscious basis.

Expression

Your eyebrows, eyes, mouth, and lips gives out a silent message when you’re speaking. You might think that you should keep your expression fairly ‘businesslike’, but in effect, you are showing little vitality nor enthusiasm for what you are talking about.

Eyes that are smiling, eyes that make contact with your audience for 3-4 seconds per person … makes a telling story come alive.

The eyes really tell the story, and when supplemented with the right facial expressions really engages your listeners and shares your authenticity.

Movement
When you move your arms in support of the words that you are saying, your words take on extra meaning. When you move on purpose to another spot in the room and face the audience, that creates a sense of direction and focus.If you sway or put your hips out or fidget with your hands when speaking, these tend to distract your audience from the point you’re making. So you might wish to stand in front of a mirror and check your movements when you are delivering your speech.

Passion
Speak your words with passion. How do you do that? Well, show your earnestness of your topic and 3x your energy when you’re presenting. It might seem a bit over the top, but remember that your energy and persona needs to fill the room with your message.Some speakers speak loudly, quickly, and raise their voices. That is not passion. All they seem to do is to confuse their listeners and bombard their listeners ears with noise. They seem to pump their thoughts out like a fire hose pumping out water.Passion is about having clarity and impact in what you say. You engage your Voice to underscore the gravitas of your words and their meaning.

Silence
Silence is golden when you pace your words in your speech. Commas, semi-colons, full stops and new paragraphs all play am important part in your rhetoric.Use pauses to underscore and point out your important thoughts. The silences help to bring out the point in the phrase.That way, you allow your audience to digest your points, while giving you a chance to organise your next thoughts before you speak.

In summary, follow this system that will help you to present like a pro:

Stance shows that you are confident

Voice – a deeper Voice will give your the resonance and a leadership like voice